Stunning glimpse of past reminds critics of Barca's legacy for future

Wednesday 13 March 2013

This was the night that Barcelona got their mojo back.

Gerard Pique roars with delight after Lionel Messi's second goal hauls Barcelona level on aggregate

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Neil White

Not only did they flip a two-goal deficit for a place in the Champions League quarter-final – the first time anyone has done so – they did so in a manner that was, for spells in both halves, reminiscent of the best they gave us during the four years when they were styled by Pep Guardiola. This was the Barcelona the world fell in love with and who the biggest teams in Europe came to fear. A fine young Milan team looked petrified in places and had that punch-drunk look exclusive to opponents who have faced this unit in this form.

Barcelona had lost three of their last five, a run without equal in the club's recent history. While under Guardiola the majority of their losses came with an asterisk – outscored, but never outplayed – Milan in the first leg, like Real Madrid in two domestic competitions, beat them in a fair fight. Barcelona appeared fragile, Lionel Messi looked disconnected. At the same time, the departure of Guardiola had been followed by the return of the cancer that previously threatened the life of Tito Vilanova, the lieutenant promoted to take over the team. Vilanova had a closed-circuit link from New York, where he is being treated. The dibs of Jordi Roura, previously a video analyst, were on the slump. He is unlikely to be credited with this renaissance.It may yet stand alone. Barcelona did not keep their 'A' game together for 90 minutes and they gave away more chances than they needed to. However, they could have been out of sight by the break and there were elements of the kind of symphonic football they will leave as their legacy. These included peerless finishing from Messi, relentless pressing led by Sergio Busquets, but above all the extraordinary 3D football of Andres Iniesta, whose understanding of what was possible with whatever space he had during a frenetic match was as awesome as ever.Messi's 52nd goal of the season, in the fifth minute of this game, provided the ignition. There was so much of the familiar to that strike. A one-two that went Messi-Xavi-Messi, with the Argentine receiving the ball with six white-shirted defenders within striking distance of him, two directly in front. His back-lift barely existed, the ball was in the top-left corner of Christian Abbiati's net before the goalkeeper could sense the threat.In the storm that Milan faced in those opening 10 minutes, there was also a rock-solid claim for a penalty that would have been accompanied by a red card for Ignazio Abate, who barged Pedro down from behind as the forward laid claim to a chipped through ball by David Villa. Then there were two remarkable saves from Abbiati. The first was to tip a volley by Andres Iniesta onto the crossbar. The second diverted a low drive by Xavi around the far post. After that opening burst, Milan played Barcelona in a far more conventional way than they had in Italy, where they were aggressive and brave. Last night they blocked up the centre of the pitch, let Dani Alves have all the ball he wanted on the Barcelona right, cleared the crosses that whipped in and waited for what came their way on the break. Often have teams set up in this way in Catalonia, rarely have they been presented with as clear an opportunity to mock the possession statistics with a counter-attacking goal. The chance was gift-wrapped by Javier Mascherano, whose history as a central midfielder led him to believe he had team-mates behind him as a long ball dropped upon him near halfway. Instead there was only M'Baye Niang, the teenage striker covering for the ineligible Mario Balotelli. He had the pace to make sure Victor Valdes, the Barcelona goalkeeper, was his only opponent but his finish, low and across Valdes, pinged off a post.There were 68 seconds between that weighty miss and Messi's second goal. He received the ball one yard offside, the pace of the pass from Iniesta enough to trick the eye of the linesman. From then he needed less than that space to fashion a shot through the swinging legs of Philippe Mexes and low past Abbiati. On the other side of the interval, Barcelona scored the goal that put them in front. Kevin Constant gambled that he could pick off a Xavi pass before it got to David Villa inside the box. He lost. Villa took one touch to assess his target and curled a perfect finish inside Abbiati's far post.There were moments in what remained when Barcelona were at risk of conceding the single goal that would have won the tie despite all of this. There had to be a tackle by Jordi Alba on Robinho on the edge of the six-yard box. It won the day as much as any of the goals, but these are not the moments for which this team will be remembered. So Alba it was sprinting on to an injury-time break, pivoting around Messi, to wrap it up for his team. It was a goal and a performance that was celebrated riotously inside Camp Nou and with equal joy in every other corner of the world where Barcelona have planted their Blaugrana flag. Especially, though, by one poorly man in New York City.

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Stunning glimpse of past reminds critics of Barca's legacy for future

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